Taste Of Freedom
by cookiejarofstories
Summary: The rise of quirks saw an increase in human experimentation. Villains ran inhumane tests to learn all they could about quirks and gain an upper hand against heroes. One man willing to do so went by the title All for One. And during the Kamino Raid, the side effects of his decisions became abundantly clear to a group of students that really would have rather not seen what they did.


Her eyes blinked tiredly. The doctor's rounds were done for the day, yet she couldn't rest. It wasn't the familiar old ache in her bones that had taken up permanent residence. Nor was it the cold sensation of shackles on her limbs anchoring her to the floor in her bare, tiny room as she stared across from her to the blank one-way window that took up most of the wall opposite her. It wasn't even the dirtied white cloth tied around her head to serve as a gag for every moment that wasn't filled with tests and trials of different quirks in the human body. _Her_ body.

Could it have been the newest quirk they tried out on her? _No,_ she mused. They had already ripped it from her like all the other ones. At the moment, she was nothing but a blank slate.

Her eyes drifted over to the door in the corner of the room. It was too far for her to reach with the chains weighing her down, but _if only she could just_—

As if to match her thoughts in a blessing she never thought she could be afforded, the all-too-distant door was suddenly blown in, flying across the room and landing next to her. The shadow that cast across of the floor might as well have been an angel, as she looked at the hero that owned it with such a strong reverence she could hardly breathe. Painfully bright clinic lights no longer bothered her, the feline-styled man striding over towards her. In a moment that passed within the blink of an eye, her chains were snapped and she finally allowed a tear to slip out.

How long had she stared at the metal imprisoning her and wished for such a thing?

"Are you alright?" The man asked in a rumbling voice. She couldn't seem to muster up words with her vocal cords in such a state of disuse but her teary nod seemed to do the trick. He swept her up into his arms gently. "Don't worry ma'am, we'll get you out of here quickly."

The taste of darkness had never been so sweet when they made it outside to a night sky at last. Eyes widest they had ever been, she drank in the sight of the stars. They filled the sky brilliantly in intricate clusters that were beyond her understanding. When was the last time she had seen such a beautiful thing? A hand subconsciously raised to touch them and she couldn't help the pang in her heart at how far they were.

She finally turned her gaze towards those around her when the man set her down. None of them were familiar to her, but just the sight of them were a comfort. Each had strange and brightly colored clothes with equally strange hair that contrasted with what she had grown used to over the years. Her sight lingered on one in particular; a woman with green hair, body laid bare to the world. A bitter taste formed in her mouth at finding another victim like her. Before the feeling could build up too strongly, she looked away bitterly—

_No_, she realized in growing horror. Her body began to tremble from fright at the mere sight of his faceless form. _No, please. _She had only just regained freedom and now it was going to be stolen from her once more like it had been when she was just a child.

In a daze, her shaking hand slowly picked up a shard of metal lying on the ground by her feet. He had his back turned to her, as arrogant and unshakeable as always. Blind fury tinted her rage; this was the man that ruined her life. He was the source of all her pain and misery, the cause of every second of her agony, her fears, her empty soul.

She plunged the metal as hard as she could into that obnoxious machine hanging on his upper body. Over and over, she plunged it in and out until he finally turned around. Blank, skin-covered sockets stared down at her emotionlessly as though she were nothing more than a fly.

She blinked, and his hand sent her crashing through the air. The sheer force knocked any air in her lungs out as her vision flickered black. She slammed through a brick wall, her body wrecking a hole through and then breaking alongside it.

In her pained state, she didn't notice the teens surrounding her. Nor did she hear their frantic whispers that tried desperately to reach her deaf ears. She didn't even notice the puddle of crimson liquid growing beneath her shattered body.

All she could process was that she was finally away from the man of infinite quirks. He couldn't touch her anymore. He couldn't find her. He couldn't control her anymore.

"I'm free," she breathed out softly, ignoring the red that accompanied her words and painted her lips. Quiet tears rolled down her cheeks in an elation she had never experienced before. "I'm _free_."

With that realization, she let her eyes drift shut and the darkness take her one final time.


End file.
